Getty Devon Kennard celebrates a sack.
The Detroit Lions haven’t had many positives this season, but one has been the play of Devon Kennard on defense.
Detroit’s rush linebacker has been exceptional this season, piling up plenty of impact plays for a group that has had its fair share of struggles on the field. And while many are down on Detroit’s defense, don’t count Kennard as one such person.
Interestingly, he says he’s been encouraged by what the defense has done up front recently.
“Defensively it’s been encouraging. We’ve done some things better the last few weeks. I actually think the last few weeks, some things we’ve done better,” Kennard told the media. “One being we’ve stopped the run better, and that’s something that frustrated me a lot early in the season. That’s a start for us getting things where we want them. We have to pick up in other areas.”
Kennard said he isn’t even thinking about evaluating the season and is more focused on how to respond in 2019.
“In all honesty I am in the thick of it now. I’m not worried about any of that,” he said. “All that reflection stuff, that’s for after the season. As a player, I want to give my teammates, this organization everything I have week in and week out.”
Devon Kennard Not Accepting Lions Losses
As the team has struggled, many of folks have given up. That’s not Kennard, who would rather stay and fight, something he says the team has taken to heart.
“I think that’s definitely the message I am portraying to everybody on the team. I think everyone’s on the same page. Let’s go out there and get better every day, improve and still have a lot of football left,” he said. “We have a chance to get better every day and win.”
As Kennard continued to speak, his voice changed. Admittedly, he sounded frustrated about the tailspin the team has been on.
“I’m tired of losing, quite frankly. I’m not a loser,” he said. “I refuse to accept that. So whatever we got to do to fix that, I think the guys in the locker room are with me.”
Spoken like a true leader.
Devon Kennard Stats
In his career, Kennard has been sneaky productive, and has been a great signing by Bob Quinn since he pulled it off in the 2018 offseason for more reasons than just his leadership.
So far, as a member of the Lions, Kennard has 85 tackles, 13 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 touchdown so far in his career. The touchdown came this season against the New York Giants and was a memorable play.
Obviously, Kennard has to revel in the fact that he made this play against his former team. A few years back, Kennard elected to sign with Detroit in free agency, and he’s been another find by general manager Bob Quinn. So far in his Detroit career, Kennard has been a sack man for the team, putting up plenty in 2018 in his first season with the team. Kennard had never scored a touchdown in Detroit, so it was a nice feather in his cap in order to do so for the Lions, especially against New York.
Kennard is an aggressive player, so it was nice to see his instinct to score pay off. It was his first touchdown in a long time which was fun to see. Defensive players don’t usually get a chance to get in the end zone, and for Kennard to do it in this manner against his former team was certainly excellent.
Kennard continues to bring the play as well as the passion to the group, and that is positive to see moving forward.